Spreader hopper and mounting attachment



' Feb. 7, 195% F. K. TARRANT SPREADER HOPPER AND MOUNTING ATTACHMENT 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 9, 1946 INVENTOR. Eed KTarmnt A'r'ry Feb. 7 1950 F. K. TARRANT 2,496,504

SPREADER HOPPER AND MOUNTING ATTACHMENT Filed Aug. 9, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 .m' un.

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I FredKTarran F 5 Feb 7 F. K. TARRANT 5 SPREADER HOPPER AND MOUNTING ATTACHMENT Filed Aug. 9, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. Fwd K. 731 mm Patented Feb. 7, 1950 UN ITED" STATES PAT EN T OFFICE SPREADER HOPPER AND MOUNTING" ATTACHMENT EnedK. Tarrant, Saratoga. Springs, N Y.

Application August 9; 194.6, Serial No. 689,550

and so mounted; that it. will remain substantially horizontal whether; the truck body is. horizontal or. tilted.

Another object of the invention: is. to provide. a device: or the. character described. so constructed as to facilitate the. filling; of the hopper from bulk. or bagm'aterial- Further objectsof the invention will appear from. the following specification taken in connectionwith the drawings: which; form. a part of thisapplication. and in which Fig- 1 is azpersp'cctiveelevation of: a device con structed in: accordance with. the invention Fig. 2: is: a. side: elevation. of: the device shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an. enlarged elevation. partly in. sec:- tion; and. partly broken awam. showing the top portion of. the. hopper tilted rearwardly to. per

mit material to. flow into: the hopper from the.

truck body;

Fig. 4; is a.perspectiverelevationalview of. the:

frame: on which the: mechanism is mounted;

Fig. 5- is, an elevational view; partly in section.

showing the rear. portion of? atruckbody'in. tilted position and. illustrating how the material can pass through an opening in the end gate into the hopper of a spreading device;

Fig. 6 is. a sectional. elevation taken. substantially on line 6--6 of Fig. 5, looking, in the direction of the arrows; and

Fig. 7 is a sectionalelevation' taken substantially on line of Fig. 5, looking in the direction. of. the arrows.

In. the particular embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings... the spreading mechanism.- is mounted on. a frame illustrated particularly in Fig. 4 and comprising" vertical angle irons H2 and II connected at their: upper ends by a cross bar [2 and at their lower ends by a: cross. bar l'3. Clamping brackets M and: I5 are secured. to the upper ends. of the angle: iron frame members I0 and H for the purpose of clamping the frame to the tail-gate l6 of a truck body b'lillustrated in Fig. 5..

The spreading mechanismais pivotally mounted on a: cross'rod secured to a. pair: of triangular at their upper ends by a rod 23. The. rod 23, in the form of the-.inventionshown, is mounted in alined openings 24 formed in the. upper ends of the-angleironmembers I8: and H and these angle irons are provided with a series. of. additionalaline'di openings. 25 and 2 6 so that the triangular frames can. be mounted in a plurality of vertical positions on. the angle. irons.

The spreading mechanism is mounted on afr'une. comprising uprightframe members 3-!) and 3|- which are: connected. by a cross bar 32 intermediate their ends and by: a rear wall 33 of a hopper 3.4.. The supporting frame for the dis.- pensing: ntuechanism also comprises upright. frame a members. 36 which. are. connected together by a cross bar 3:?" and'by a rear wall 38. of the. hopper 3i.v The lower endsof the: upright frame members 3E3. are connected. to the lower ends of the frame members 30 and 31 by bars. 39 which are braced. with reference: to. the frame members 30- and: Si by angularly disposed. members 40.

A; platform or support 4| is mounted on the bars. 3 2 and. 31: and supports the engine for operating the fan ancl' dispensing mechanism, the

engine preferably being an internal combustion engine-having a fuel supply tank 46 and the usual parts required? for. such. an engine. A tie rod 47,. to which is connected a spring 48, is connected to the platform 41!: and: to a cover 4Slwhich ispivoted at 59 to the upper ends of the vertical frame members 30: and 3|.

Ifhe upper ends of the vertically extending frame members 30'. and 31 aremounted on the rod Zflrahd the frame-carrying the spreading mechanism; is: freely pivoted on this rod. In order to prevent this. frame from swinging when the'truck bodyis horizontal, a chain 5! connects thecrossbar l3zto a member-or lug 52: secured tothe frame member 39 .v When: this chain is unhooked the. frame in which the: spreading mechanism is. mounted. can. swing freely on the rod 20 in the manner shown in Fig. 5.

The lower endof the hopper 34' has a converging. outlet spout 55 which leads to the fiared'upper end 56 of a. chute. 51'through which the material to be spread. moves by gravity. This. material 1s blownrearwardly by a: fan 58 mounted in a fan casing 59; which in turn is mounted in. and extendsdownwardly through the platform M. The. fan is driven. by a belt fi'flrirom the engine 45'.

'llhe: air blast. from. the fan is' directed rearwardly through; an outlet ti which communicates with: the lower end of the chute 5! and blows: the material which is red by gravity downwardly through frame members 2| and 22 which are connected 5'5? thechute andrearwardlytoa p ader: plate 62..

Means is provided for directing the path of movement of the discharged material, this means consisting of vanes 63 which are angularly adjustable. The spreading mechanism is more particularly described in my copending application serial No. 584,354, filed March 23, 1945, issued as Patent No. 2,476,465, July 19, 1949. Attention is called to the fact that the hopper 34 and the engine 45 are located on the opposite side of the pivot rod 20 from the engine and chute 51, thereby substantially balancing the mechanism mounted on the rod 20.

From the showing particularly in Fig. 3 it will be noted that the upper ends of the side walls of the hopper 34 are inclined, as shown at 10. However, the hopper is provided with an extension H having side walls inclined oppositely to the inclination of the side walls of the hopper indicated at and having a wall I2 adapted to fit on the wall 13 of the hopper and to complete this wall so that the upper end of the hopper will be substantially horizontal when the truck body is horizontal. The extension II is shown in Fig. 3 as folded rearwardly and in Figs. 1 and 2 as disposed on the top of the hopper 34.

The purpose of the pivoted hopper extension H which is pivoted at M is to facilitate the feeding of the material into the hopper direct from the truck body in the manner shown particularly in Figs. 5, 6 and 7. The tail gate I6 is provided with an opening 15, on the lower end of which is pivoted a closure member or cover 16 which can be latched in closed position by a latch 11. When it is desired to feed the bulk material directly from the truck body into the hopper, as, for instance, when the truck body is tilted on its pivot 80 by a suitable hydraulic mechanism 8|, the hopper extension H is swung rearwardly and the closure member 16 is lowered so that it rests on the portion 13 of the hopper. The material will then be fed by gravity or pushed rearwardly through the opening 15 in the tail gate into the hopper 34, and thence will be discharged through the chute 5! and will be scattered by the fan blast in the manner above described.

If the material is to be dumped into the hopper from bags, the extension H is swung to a position over the hopper, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and the hopper is filled from the bags.

If desired, the material in the truck body can be directed through the opening 15 by means of side walls 82 and 83 and a downwardly inclined wall 84. However, these walls are not necessary and the material can be pushed through the opening 15 or will pass throughthis opening by gravity, as when the truck body is tilted, as shown in Fig. 5.

It will be noted from the illustration in Fig. 5 that the chain 5| has been detached from the spreading mechanism frame and this mechanism has swung on the rod so that it remains in a horizontal position or in the same position taken when the truck body is horizontal.

In the form of the invention shown, there are provided a pair of levers 90 and SI. One of these levers, as shown at 92, is provided for the purpose of controlling the amount of material passing through the outlet end 56 of the hopper 34, this lever being connected to operate a valve or gate of the usual construction. The other lever is connected at its lower end to the vanes 63 and has for its purpose to adjust these vanes to the desired angle.

Although one specific embodiment of the invention has been particularly shown and de- 4 scribed it will be understood that the invention is capable of modification and that changes in the construction and in the arrangement of the various cooperating parts may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention, as expressed in the following claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a device for spreading material, a frame, means for supporting the frame on the tail gate of a truck, a hopper mounted on said frame for receiving and delivering material to be spread, said hopper having two sections, one above the other, the upper section being pivotally mounted on said frame and movable relative to the lower section from a position above the lower section to a position away from said lower section so as to permit the hopper to receive material from a lower level.

2. In combination, a body adapted to store and discharge material to be spread, means for receiving and discharging such material comprising a support, a frame pivoted on said support, a hopper mounted on said frame and receiving material from the body and delivering the material therefrom, a pivotally mounted extension on the upper end of the hopper, said body having a wall provided with an opening for the discharge of the material from the body into the hopper, means for securing the support on the wall with said hopper extension over the opening, said extension when moved away from the upper end of the hopper exposing said opening in the wall whereby the hoppercan receive material from the body through said opening.

3. In combination, a body adapted to store and discharge material to be spread, a support mounted on said body, a frame pivoted on said support, mechanism on said pivoted frame, including a hopper formed of an upper section and a lower material-receiving section, said upper section being pivotally mounted on said frame, said body having a wall provided with an openin for the discharge of the material from the body into the hopper, means for securing the support on the wall with the upper section of said hopper over the opening, said upper section when pivotally moved away from the lower section of the hopper exposing said opening in the wall whereby the hopper can receive material from the body through said opening, and a closure on said wall opening adapted to rest on the hopper when opened to support and guide material thereinto.

FRED K. TARRANT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 873,708 Bering et al. Dec. 17, 1907 1,864,612 Pearson et al June 28, 1932 1,928,030 Putnam Sept. 26, 1933 2,003,628 Chadwick June 4, 1935 2,152,259 Humphrey Mar. 28, 1939 2,244,987 Faulkner June 10, 1941 2,317,853 Gaddis Apr. 27, 1943 2,323,345 Moore July 6, 1943 2,332,903 Downey et al Oct. 26, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 253,717 Great Britain June 24, 1926 607,843 France Apr. 6, 1926 

